Rise of The Keeper
by DominusPisces
Summary: An Exiled Wizard, The Heart of a God and an ambition that could be larger threaten the stability of the Kingdom. Join The Keeper as he gathers allies on his merry ride to Hell because deep down we all know: Evil is Good. Rated M For future themes of violent, dark and probably sexual nature.


**(A/N Okay this is my first D/K Fan-Fic but it has been going around in my brain forever. As always I do not own D/K other copy-written content and I make no money off of this. Enjoy and please Read and Review!) **

**Chapter One: From Humble Beginnings**

An endless world of stone, this is what they have condemned me to. The kingdoms above glut themselves and grow fat upon their complacency and dared to demonize my ambition as evil. Evil, bah! What is the nature of evil? I seek not destruction for destruction's sake. I have no desire to kill when unnecessary. Well I hadn't before my 'just and honorable' liege saw fit to dispose of me for the inconvenience of wanting more out of life. Mayhap a little murder would be cathartic for my bruised ego? No. Such things would simply be another victory for them. I cannot allow that. Life is indeed precious. It should never be taken without a higher purpose in mind.

I merely wanted to acquire knowledge and power. Knowledge and power that could have been used to spread our nation's influence, which could have been used to bring more prosperity to our citizenry.

"**_But no. We do not need more. Let our neighbor's be. We are happy!_**" I said out loud to the darkness, quoting the fool king letting as much mocking as possible slide into my voice. "Children are happy, but even they need to grow up!" My voice echoes off the stone tunnels as I repeat my less than diplomatic retort to the king. I smirk a bit, that at least had galvanized something other than mindless revelry out of The _oh so Harmonious One_.

My steps took me deeper into the cave. The small bluish-purplish flame in my upturned palm casting odd lights against the walls. I had been fortunate indeed. The Guardsman had chased me to the cave thinking I fled here in desperate flight. Surely had they known what lies in this cave, they would have chased me down to finish the deed directly. Instead once their archers had knocked my horse out from under me, I was able to just barely make it to the mouth of the cave, how I managed not to break my neck in the fall I shall never know.

I had fully intended to make a last stand once I reached my planned destination, but that wasn't to be. My traitorous apprentice had ridden with the guardsmen. **_My apprentice_**! That sniveling youth owed his entire station to me! He had the nerve to backstab me! I did take some measure of pride in my ability when I witnessed the power he had at his command, surely such conjuring was a testament to my power and instruction. When the blast came to me I threw up a shield in blind panic. Had I been more prepared for it, there would have been a bit more finesse to it. I would have sculpted the energy into a better shape to divert his blast, would have made the nature of the shield more elastic to absorb some of the force. There were literally a hundred different things I could have done.

Alas I was not prepared. In my haste to flee I did not bother to see who was in the party intent on murdering me. I throw up a simple shield. Simple did not mean weak though. What it lacked in complexity and technique it more than made up for in brute strength. The shield had held. Of course the energy had to go somewhere, and my shield simply channeled the energy of the blast right into the rock of the cave entrance. The entrance cracked and gave way sending tons of debris straight down. The only thing that saved me was the strength rock had to resist compression; otherwise the whole cave would have collapsed on me.

At last I had reached my goal in the back of the cave. It wasn't all that impressive really, just a little altar used for scrying and meditation. It was just a marble plaque with a bowl in the middle with a few elemental totems, bunches of dried herbs and candles set on it with astrological symbols carved into it with the plaque resting on top of four blocks. A little less than waist tall it sat atop a weak Mana Well. I had stumbled upon it looking for herbs. I was supposed to inform the Mage's council right away of any and all Mana Wells so they could tap into it collectively, but it was a weak one, and it would help my research. Besides, I rather liked the idea of my own personal Well. Wizards weren't allowed to own such powerful things.

My own reserves were near gone. I had poured everything I had into my shield. Perhaps the overkill was why the cave-in happened. The energy in the shield being so high that when the collision between my shield and that **_traitor's_** blast had caused it to go critical and rebound into the surrounding rock. My situation was grim. I had no real personal Mana reserves left and it would take days for me to rebuild them, even with this Well to speed up the process, days I didn't have. I had no food on me, nor did I have any natural source of water. That's not even considering if there was enough air in here to hold out for me to starve to death first.

I picked up a crystal and charged it with a tiny flow of Mana. I watched as it lit up, illuminating the darkness on its own. I tapped a sigil on the marble plaque and it lit up faintly as I felt the very last of my internal reserves of Mana were gone. I had just enough left to give me the tiny bit of light I needed to see and to activate my Altar.

From the few supplies I had on me and had at my Altar, I selected herbs and crystals and minerals, some powdered and some whole and set them into the bowl. Saying the right words and gesturing with my hands I channeled the energy of the Mana Well up into my Altar and through it into the offering bowl. Directing the energy to spin, the material finally started spinning clockwise. Faster and faster it spun as I added more energy from the Well into it, eventually the energy collected more in the center causing it to spin faster grinding the materials together. The incense like smell of the burning herbs started filling the cave as the sound of the ground minerals wore upon the whole crystals resembled the noise of finger nails lightly scratching at silk.

The first acrid smell of smoke trickled from the bowl as the grinding crystal dust began to spark more and more until finally the whole mass of material in the little bowl collapsed into a spinning little Focus of Magikal Power. The candles on my Altar lit up on their own as they reacted to the energy generated in the Focus of my Altar.

The spark, no larger than a grape was suitable to work with. Raw Mana was useable for certain basic Magikal tasks, but a Focus was needed for most of the more advanced forms of Magik. Taking the flask from my belt I looked at it wearily. The flask represented the only water I had available. I drowned my little Focus with the water whispering words of time and knowledge. Using the words of power I channeled my will through my Focus binding the water to the Rivers of Time in order to prepare for a divination. Finally the task complete as the Focus melted into the water I held my hand over the glowing swirling liquid gold.

"I bind thee, oh Rivers of Time to Show me true. Show me the weakness in this prison of rock, stone and earth. Grant me the knowledge of the path to my total freedom!" My words forced my will into the glowing vortex. It spun faster and faster. My heart raced as my question forced itself into the universe at large. Watched as my will took on near a life of it's own, until finally with a few sparks the Divination ceased and the light died.

I was cast in darkness. My offering was consumed, but produced no effect. I bit my lip thinking I had asked a question that didn't have an answer. Finally the candles flickered weakly and the, now empty bowl started to glow as a soft blue light rose from it, forming a trail behind it. It moved towards the back of the cave, right into a seam in the back wall a few feet from my Altar.

I frowned confused and looked behind me towards the entrance that remained dark. I had asked it to show me a weakness in the rock so I could blast my way out. "Why would it show me this?" I asked aloud in my confusion. I stood up and took a few steps towards the back of the cave and laid my hand on the indicated spot. The wall was smooth save for a few shallow groves, but the light found a spot that seemed a little deeper than that. It was impossible to determine how deep the flaw in the stone went. It was also impossible to know how thick the wall was, yet my Divination said I had the power to break through.

My thoughts raced. Were my words incorrect? Did I get the mixture wrong? Was my water contaminated? Surely the cave entrance was less thick and less stable than this nearly solid wall of stone? I tapped the wall. I couldn't afford to be wrong. Killing living things is much easier than smashing stone. They are so much softer and present so many options. I would need to channel much more energy from the Mana Well than would be safe. Certainly I could do it, Mana Wells did give off Mana indefinitely, but if too much was taken at once, I could overload it and burn out The Well's connection to where it connected to the source in the Aether.

I frowned more. I would probably have only one chance to blast the rock, and if I wasted it on this back wall and it didn't give I would be trapped. Even if I didn't overload the Well itself, at this close range, the blast would probably destroy my Altar and I would be in the same situation regardless if the Well still existed. Still… What would I do if depowered and the Guards were waiting to see if I did blast myself out? A Wizard without Mana is nothing more than a blade warmer.

I felt my jaw set and I took a few determined steps back. I took a few deep breaths and connected with the Mana Well. I used my Will to reach into the Aether behind the Well and channeled as much raw power as I could into my Altar and through the Focus following the glowing blue path it laid out, the light was blinding as it poured into the crack of the back wall. The light grew brighter, almost blinding. The sound of rock shearing was deafening. There was a loud noise and as I felt something slam into my chest. Then blackness.


End file.
